Kim Kardashian declares in the trial in Paris for the millionaire robbery he suffered in 2016: “I thought they were going to find me dead in bed” | People
The former Palace of Justice of Paris, near the Notre-Dame Cathedral, dawns on Tuesday, May 13 with a security device that was not seen in a long time. Almost 500 accredited journalists, in addition to the public, expect the testimony of the megainfluencer and businesswoman Kim Kardashian, who declares for the first time at the trial against the alleged perpetrators of the robbery he suffered in 2016 in the hotel room where he stayed during the French capital week of the French capital. A person in 20 years in France is considered the greatest blow. Around 13.00, the protagonist of the day has arrived at the court accompanied by her mother, Kris Jenner. For the occasion, Kardashian has wrapped in a black American and a bulging skirt, which has complemented with sunglasses and a striking necklace. It has been almost five hours of statement, in which he recalled what happened and how that has changed his life.
Everything happened on October 3, shortly before three in the morning, when five individuals, whose average age then was around 60 years (today they are 70), entered their room, immobilized it and, in less than 10 minutes, they stole jewelry valued at 10 million dollars before fleeing by bicycle. Among the stolen pieces was the engagement ring valued at four million that rapper Kanye West, his then husband (they divorced into 2022). Kardashian, who was then 35 (today is 44), was in the French capital with his sister to attend Fashion Week, and had just arrived at his accommodation from a Givenchy parade.
Kim Kardashian’s statement was the most anticipated of this trial, which started at the end of April and whose verdict is scheduled to be issued on May 23. She has entered through the back door of the court, has greeted the press and the interrogation has started minutes later. He has thanked French justice “for allowing me to come here and tell the truth.” He has reported the facts and the state of initial confusion, when he saw the two men appear in his room dresses in uniform, along with the hotel guard: “I did not know what was happening. There were many terrorist attacks in the world at that time, I did not know if it was an attack.” When one of them threw her into the bed and began to tie her hands, the batín fell: “Then I was naked and there I thought they were going to rape me. I mentally prepared for that,” he remembered before the court.
As the assailants communicated in French, she spoke to the security guard. “I asked him if we were going to die. In his gaze there was no expression. He told me: ‘I don’t know.’ I said: ‘I have children, I have to go home,” he said in tears. “I closed my eyes and prayed for my family, for my sister. I thought they were going to be dead in bed.” During his statement, one of them has been excited several times when the president of the court has read a letter from one of the defendants involved, deaf and that he can barely speak, in which he asks for forgiveness for the trauma that caused him. She dried her tears. “I am obviously excited, although this experience has changed my life and that of my family. I appreciate his words and forg reality show Familiar, who studies to be a lawyer: “I believe in the second opportunities,” he said in the historic Voltaire Sala, aimed at the great processes and where the trial is celebrated.
One of the lawyers has asked him if the assault has changed his lifestyle, on a personal level and how the Celebrity what is it. Kardashian has said that now he lives almost armored, with several security guards inside and outside his home, who accompany her in all the displacements and also to her four children. “Now I need four or six security agents in my house to be able to sleep.” When he travels, he has vigilantes outside the hotels, on each floor and in the room attached to his. If it goes by car and it is not his trusted driver, he does not maintain conversations for fear that the driver can listen to it, and there is always a bodyguard with her inside the vehicle. “Emotionally, it has affected my work, I no longer hang photos and videos on social networks, unless it is a public act, until change of destiny. It is my work, but I do not do it in real time,” he said. He has said that he followed therapy, and despite the fact that the robbery passed nine years ago, he continues to start suddenly noises. “One day I listened to several people going up stairs and I started crying. My children were in front.”
Although past interviews already declared that at that time he thought “that he was going to die”, his French lawyers, Léonor Hennerick and Jonathan Mattout, advanced before his statement that his represented faced “with dignity and courage” the time to face their assailants and answer all the questions.
The scene is striking: a megainfluencerMillionaire and with more than 356 million followers only on their Instagram account, in front of a handful of retirees, with extensive history in robberies, some with hearing or memory problems. Given the influx of media and public, another annexed room has been enabled, where your statement can be followed. The judicial authority has also established very limited areas for the dozens of cameras that expect to record the entrance and exit of Kim Kardashian.
Before her, her stylist and friend, Simone Harouche – who accompanied her on that trip – is telling the court on Tuesday how she lived the robbery from the next room. In the middle of the night “I woke up a noise, very different from the laughter of friends I heard before bed. We are friends for a long time. I know her well and I know when something is not going well (…),” he said. He has told how he locked himself in the bathroom, because he was sure that they would also go for her. “I realized that I had to do something to preserve my life and that of Kim. I approached the door of the room to verify that what I was listening was true. I heard male voices that spoke very strong, I heard her scream and in her voice listened to the terror she felt.”
10 people, nine men and a woman are judged – all in freedom under judicial control. In principle there were 12, but one of those involved has Alzheimer’s and will not be able to testify and another died last March. Most have a criminal history. There are five that face armed hand and kidnapping charges. They were the ones who entered police officers at the Hotel No Adress (baptized thus for being a discreet place), located in the Rue Tronchet, in the heart of Paris. These will declare this Wednesday.
Two of them handcuffed the security guard and forced him to take them to the room “of the woman of the rapper”, in reference to Kanye West. One of them, who is considered to be in command of the operation, is Aomar Ait Khedache, aka The old man. He already made a first statement (he will be questioned again this week), but he has deafness problems, it is difficult for him to talk and he has to leave the audience room often. Recognize the facts, but denies being the lead of the coup.
Another of the defendants is Yunice Abbas (71 years), with extensive criminal history and who has even written a book entitled I kidnap Kim Kardashian. He declared in the first days of judgment and was repentant: “It was a complete mistake. I am very sorry. She is traumatized, I never thought about that,” he said. The rest is accused of illegal complicity or possession of weapons. Those missing will begin to testify on Wednesday, after she does it.
Mohamed Q., the driver who took that night took the hotel to the Telerreality, has also testified. The company that is responsible for the displacements of the Kardashian family (then also from Kanye West) had hired him as reinforcement, because the usual ones could not that night. It is suspected that he passed information to the defendants about the place where he was staying. He told the court not to remember the details, just having left one of the sisters at the hotel and having taken the other (Kourtney Kardashian) to a disco. Kim Kardashian’s bodyguard, Pascal D., declared that he had several lost calls from her, so he left his sister at the disco, went to the car and told the driver to call the police and go to the hotel that, after the assault, has changed her name.
The band’s escape was as surreal as the robbery itself. The researchers took them to stop them, although they did not put much care in not leaving a trace. They left the flanges with which they immobilized Kardashian and the security guard, which is also part of the private accusation and claims to be traumatized by what happened. The assailants even lost some part of the loot along the way.
The investigators of the crime repression brigade have also declared, those who arrived in the room after the robbery. The head of the investigation, Michel Malecot, told how they managed to pull the thread, through the videos of the security cameras and also of telephone listeners, and stop the alleged authors. “It is true that they made mistakes, but, we must admit it, it was a good team of experienced criminals.”
